RolStoppable said:
Too much of the same will inevitably lead to failure for some. That is my argument for the shooter situation or any "let's make this kind of game for this console, because one such game was very successful" situation. At some point the market simply can't support it anymore. Since I've just mentioned Red Faction in a previous post, I'll use it as an example here. It wasn't a big IP last gen, but it did fairly well. Now THQ could throw it to the wolves (which they did) or become the big fish on the Wii, because nobody else tried to satisfy the demand for shooters on the Wii. The shooter market on the HD consoles had become incredibly competitive which required companies to spend not only a lot of money on development to keep up with the production values, but also big bucks on advertisement. On top of this, like I said before, this generation generated record revenues, but not record profits. A sign that the decisions that were made were not necessarily the best ones. It's like everyone in the industry had a tunnel vision which is why even some RPGs have been turned into shooters. As for the downloadable games, I was refering to the amount of content you get. A downloadable platformer is often over in three to five hours while a boxed game gives you 10-20 hours of playtime for the initial playtrough. It's basically a snack vs. a full meal. The Wii could have gotten all the indie games in the world, but there would still have been something missing. You don't buy a dedicated gaming machine to only consume snacks, if you know what I mean. Next point, the reception for Silent Hill: SM is all over the place. Some say it's awesome, others criticize its predictability. The game makes a clear distinction between puzzle and action sections (although action in this case just refers to running away from enemies). I haven't bought the game for this reason, because I consider the element of suspense a pretty important part in a survival horror title. As for its sales, a SH fanbase was never established on a Nintendo system before and the PS2 had a long tail. The VGC database cannot be fully trusted at this point. While I don't object to the PS2 version having sold more copies, I need to point out that the game was released day and date on the Wii, PS2 and PSP. VGC for some reason lists the Wii version as a 2009 release, but Gamefaqs (who I trust more; no offense, VGC) says otherwise. Here is a link to the SH:SM page, it just takes a few clicks to confirm what I am saying here. Lastly, Deca Sports was riding on the popularity of Wii Sports, obviously. I don't need to tell you that such games have a far higher sales ceiling than survival horror. Don't forget though what I said at the beginning of this post: Too much of the same will inevitably lead to failure for some. Third parties rushing to make Wii Sports (and Wii Play) clones led to dozens of games that quickly ended up in the bargain bin. If nothing else, one thing is certain: Third parties could have been (much) more successful this generation, if they spreaded their games more evenly across all platforms instead of blindly chasing popular trends. |
The Silent Hill game was released Jan 2010 on PS2, December 2009 on Wii, according to wikipedia. My point in saying that the PS2 version released in 2010 was not to imply it was a significantly later release btw, I was just pointing out that SW on a console from the previous generation outsold one from the current generation. I mean come on, no matter the argument that Silent Hill did not appear on Nintendo consoles before, you know you're in trouble when you're having to defend a game in 2010 selling more on a system released 10 years ago than on Nintendo's current hardware (especially when the HW sales are as high as they are for the Wii).
I don't think that argument for shooters on the Wii holds much weight. The PS360+PC market supported a seemingly unending stream of cut and paste (and some original ones, mind you) shooters for 5-6 years, only recently (in this unprecedentedly long generation) are we seeing the more mediocre titles bring in disappointing numbers, and I don't need to tell you that now is too late to bother developing for the Wii.
Taking your specific Red Faction example, why would their lacklustre sequel have sold better on the Wii? You say that nobody else tried to satisfy demand for shooters on the console, but I remember a highly publicized title by name of the Conduit that was positioned as a game to prove that the Wii catered to 'hardcore' gamers. I saw it on the E3 main stage after a speech about games on Wii with a 'harder edge', I saw tv adverts for it, it received attention and reviews from outlets that had begun to ignore third party Wii games, but it sold dismally compared to equally high profile releases on PS360+PC, and compared to more 'casual' games on the Wii itself. The US launch week was 72k. In terms of lifetime sales, there are 246 games on the Wii that moved higher numbers than the Conduit did. And I don't really need to talk about the sequel, do I?
Another example is Red Steel 2, sure you could argue there was a slight barrier to entry with the Wii Motion Plus, but considering this is THE sequel to THE highest selling (and most probably highest profile, along with the Conduit) new shooter IP on Wii, and that it reviewed significantly better, seeing it struggle past the half-million line for lifetime sales is not an indication of an untapped shooter market just begging for atttention. You say that if companies had 'spread out' their efforts more evenly across platforms they could have been more successful, but I don't see any way of supporting this argument (for shooters at least) other than as wishful thinking, seeing as the numbers tell a different story.
Your comment about record revenues as opposed to record profits sounds reasonable in some very specific cases, but I have a hard time believing it is applicable here without concrete figures.
You're right about the download-able only games, when it comes to consoles at least. I think my muse on that was more over a missed oppurtunity to get some quality third party games in the hands of Wii gamers, rather than as a drive to revitalize the market (speaking as a former Wii owner, the cheap and accessible indie experiences on Steam/PSN seem like a perfect fit for the console).
